Bangalore or Bengaluru has unnecessarily achieved itself a name of being a laid back city. It may seem so when you see groups of the elderly chatting and sharing their experiences at parks, cafes and at cultural hubs. The city has tried to retain its park culture in recent times and the general mood at least in South Bangalore in the evenings among lanes fills the passerby with laughter of children who are having just fun.

Again, the local resident has realized he or she has welcomed people across states (since the last few decades) and countries and now it is the time to be upbeat and fast-paced lest, the city will be left with very few Kannadigas. I am not at all against non-kannadigas living in the city.

If you ask me it is in fact the openness that has made the city vibrant, fast-paced but restless. Scores of students, office-goers, the hyped IT community, everyone is here to fulfill their dreams. Never ending traffic woes, constant build of public infrastructure like flyovers and the metro train work, new plush buildings coming up at every last space left in the city is making one feel the city has a lot of work to be done.

Among these I find myself sometimes a little lost, sometimes a little over-enthusiastic and sometimes a dreamer to fulfill my little aspirations. Thankfully I also find myself an achiever too when I am able to meet some of my dreams in reality.

However the city has also made me feel over-cautious with people, places and even if I want to trust, a voice tells me to be careful. Blame it on the incidents that have shaken women, mothers and people. Rapes, child-abuse, robbery, unethical standards followed at offices, deplorable politics at work-places and  our leaders-there are far too many reasons why we have started avoiding trusting others.

Well if I sound pessimistic, it is not that but yes we are a city who are trying to match our experiences of living various countries, places and retain our own Bangalore culture. We are also a city where we love to chat, gulp enormous coffee cups at city darshinis, talk our heart out and solve our identity crisis as to who is the real Bangalorean?

I do hope Bangalore; my city fills the gaps in the coming years where every woman, every child, every teenager, every man and endowed with bagful of being content, safe and happy. Oh yes, also hope we get away from being restless as though we care constantly trying to gain something.